1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a bypass valve associated with a humidifier and a respiration circuit for directing a flow of fluid from a ventilator to a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
A subject connected to a prior art ventilator 2 (see FIG. 1) is typically connected thereto via a prior art respiration circuit 4 (see FIG. 1) having a set of tubes. As shown in FIG. 1, the prior art respiration circuit 4 may be operatively connected to a prior art humidifier 6 having a prior art humidifier chamber 8 that humidifies the otherwise relatively-dry air generated by the prior art ventilator 2. A prior art first tube 10 of the set of tubes connects the ventilator to the prior art humidifier chamber 8 and a prior art second tube 12 connects the prior art humidifier chamber 8 to a patient mask or endo-tracheal (ET) tube. When subjects are to be transported, the prior art humidifier 6 is typically disconnected from the prior art respiration circuit 4 and left behind because of the lack of available AC power source to power the prior art humidifier 6 during transport as well as the excessive size and weight of the humidifier. Furthermore, if the prior art humidifier chamber 8 is not disconnected during transport, water from the prior art humidifier chamber 8 may leak into and occlude the subject's breathing path in the respiration circuit. Avoiding or correcting this hazard requires disconnecting the circuit 4 from the prior art humidifier chamber 8, thereby introducing bio hazards and disrupting therapy.
The disconnection process includes disconnecting the prior art first tube 10 from the prior art ventilator 2, disconnecting the prior art second tube 12 from the prior art humidifier chamber 8, and connecting the prior art second tube 12 to the prior art ventilator 2, as shown in FIG. 2. However, the process of disconnecting the humidifier from the respiration circuit may disrupt the subject's therapy, may cause alarm signals to be generated in the ventilator because of the disruption, and may also cause bacterial/viral contaminants to be introduced into the subject's airway.